6
(3)
!
Obtaining a patent takes a long time,
Tong time, usually
about 2 years. 10 is also expensive costing
about $20,000 for a straight forward, uncontested
UK patent. A bundle of patents acquired through
the European Patent Office costs about $60,000.
Resonable world wide coverage comes
to about
$200,000. The period of protection is 20 years,
a period perhaps seen as unnecessarily long by the
manufacturer who is looking to exploit his idea
for a much shorter time, say 5 years,
move into some other profitable line.
and then
He cannot
be criticised for thinking that the time, effort
and cost involved in obtaining a patent for an
invention that he is unlikely to want to exploit
over 20 years is just not worth the trouble.
15.
He will have to
If a llong Kong inventor does go to the trouble of
patenting his invention, he will do so in order to protect
his product in the markets of the world. apply for patents in the United States, Europe and wherever
else the goods are to be marketed because patent rights
are usually limited to the country in which the patent is
obtained. Since the domestic market is insignificant,
will register his UK patent here only if a competing and
infringing product is made in Hong Kong.
he
/The